Mustafa Chowdhury
Volume 1 of The Birth of Bangladesh as Canada Walks a Diplomatic Tightrope has six chapters that deal with Canada and Pakistan’s political landscape, a surreptitious military attack, Canada’s reaction, the news media’s role, the Canadian public’s reaction, the role played by Canadian NGOs, and debates in the House of Commons and Senate. Canada believed that any response, one way or another, on Canada’s part, would be 'politically incorrect.' Themes such as the preservation of democracy, the transfer of power to democratically elected representatives, the cessation of repressive measures, resolution through constitutional means, and humanitarian assistance continued to dominate the discussion throughout the period the military was in power, revealing Canada’s deep concern as well as helplessness. Canada prioritized the provision of humanitarian relief assistance as its immediate goal, thereby assisting the Bengali victims in India and the displaced people in East Pakistan.Although the news media, Canadian NGOs, and Bengali-speaking Canadians supported the provisional government of Bangladesh, Canada paid attention to what most Canadians were demanding-that Canada direct its energy to steering the management of the conflict to the United Nations. Canada was interested in determining how it could best assist in resolving the dispute and promoting democracy in Pakistan. An independent Bangladesh out of Pakistan was never on Pakistan’s radar screen. Like the public, Canada favoured a solution that would keep Pakistan as one country in a re-engineered and democratic Pakistan, rather than a split into two nations.
